Floating Colors

Balloon Festival Is Full Of More Than Just Hot Air

Fair weather is a welcome sight at any outdoor festival, but this weekend at the Suffolk Municipal Airport, folks will be looking upward with even more eagerness than usual.

That's because, weather permitting, more than a score of hot-air balloons hope to rise into Suffolk's skies, part of the fourth annual Suffolk Spring Spectacular & Balloon Fest. The festival, which includes a carnival, music acts and other attractions, begins at noon today and runs through Sunday evening.

Balloonists are coming from as far away as Texas, Florida and Illinois, according to Rene Meier, the "balloonmeister" for the festival. As of early this week, 22 balloons were expected to be on hand.

Meier coordinates events for the participating balloonists, assures that Federal Aviation Administration rules governing ballooning are followed, and makes the go-no-go decision on whether the weather's safe for flying.

Festival-goers will get to see the balloonists in competitive events, with a highlight being the "key grab" contest, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Saturday. In this event, Meier explains, a pole is erected on the festival grounds and the balloonists, launching elsewhere, try to guide their craft to the pole. The prize, he says, will be an envelope containing $1,000 fixed to the pole; whoever can grab it, can keep it.

Other competitions include "hare and hound" contests, in which one balloon, after flying a distance, lands in a field and places a large "X" on the spot. Half an hour later, the other balloons go up in pursuit of the first. Whichever can drop a marker closest to the "X" wins.

To view these and other balloon flights, you'll have to arrive early: They'll start at 6:30 a.m. Saturday and Sunday and are scheduled to conclude by 10 a.m.

"Balloons fly at only two times: sunrise, and two hours before sunset," Meier explains. In the middle of the day, the sun warming the earth creates air currents unsuitable for hot-air ballooning.

There is one after-dark balloon attraction, though: the "balloon glow," to take place at 8 tonight and 9 p.m. Saturday. Lit from within by flames from their propane burners, balloons will be made to glow like giant luminarias.

There are about 6,000 hot-air balloonists in the country. Meier says about half of them do it as a hobby. The other half are commercial balloonists like Meier. He runs Balloon Promotions Inc. in Gloucester County, which offers balloon rides and airborne advertising.

Some louder and faster aircraft will be overhead, too. Starting at 1 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, there will be an air show featuring dogfight demonstrations by the Air Combat Canada flight team, along with skydivers from SkyDive Suffolk and stunt pilot Susan Dacy. Festival-goers can test their piloting skills on the Virginia Aviation Museum's AirMobile flight simulator.

At the other end of the aerial spectrum, there will be kite-flying demonstrations both afternoons.

Headlining Saturday's music bill will be a blast from the very loud past: Mark Farner, who'll perform from 8 to 9:15 p.m.

Farner was lead vocalist and guitarist for Grand Funk Railroad, the critically dismissed but hugely popular hard-rock band that filled stadiums in the 1970s with tunes such as "I'm Your Captain," "American Band" and "Locomotion."

Other Spring Spectacular attractions include:

* A yo-yo contest, with categories for all ages and different skill categories, at 1:30 p.m. Sunday. Registration opens at 12:30 p.m.

* A garden-tractor-pull contest, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

* An antique and vintage car show 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday, and a second car show produced by Ultimate Illusion Tidewater Truck 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday.

* Carnival rides all weekend.

Helping the festival kick off this afternoon will be the Magnolia Ruritan Club's annual Pig Pickin', from 3 to 6:30 p.m. with live bands playing during and afterward. Pig Pickin' tickets are $12 and can be purchased on-site.

Tony Gabriele can be reached at 247-4786 or by e-mail at tgabriele@dailypress.com

* To get there: From the Peninsula, take Interstate 664 to Exit 13 in Chesapeake, going westward on U.S. Route 58 (Military Highway) to downtown Suffolk; turn left at Main Street, following Route 13 south, and follow signs to event. From Isle of Wight/Smithfield area, take state Route 10 to downtown Suffolk; continue straight ahead through downtown (road becomes U.S. 13), follow signs to event.